


Farmin' ain't easy

by Fandom_Soda



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game), The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Stardew Valley AU, Swearing, TAZ Valley AU, Taz spoilers, give magnus a break au, slight angst, taz au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2020-10-14 11:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20599673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Soda/pseuds/Fandom_Soda
Summary: Set in a universe where the whole Hunger incident and dimension hopping didn't happen, and slight location changes.A few years after the unfortunate incident in Raven's Roost, Magnus still isn't over the loss of everything he loved and   decides he needs an escape. He finds a quaint little house in a small unnoticed village, a perfect place to just let everything roll away.He gets a lot more than he bargained for.





	1. Magnus Gets A House

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing TAZ, please be gentle. English is the only language I know, but alas, I suck at it, so please let me know of any spelling or grammatical errors I may have overlooked.
> 
> I've had this idea in my head for a while and decided to roll with it. I was too afraid to post it until now, however. Debating if this is a multichapter thing, or a one off, but for now it will be multichapter. I do have a tumblr dedicated to this where I will post character concepts for this farming TAZ AU, you can find it at @Taz-stardew-au on tumblr. The name is temporary, as I suck at coming up with names. Currently taking suggestions, though.

“Mister, We’re almost there.” 

Magnus groaned, covering his eyes as the bright sun filtered through the covered wagon. He blinked a few times, still groggy from the blissful sleep he woke up from. It took him a minute to remember why he was on a covered wagon in the first place, but it didn’t take long for everything to come rushing back. 

“Oh, right right, Thanks.” He waved to the driver, a rather young looking tiefling, who simply nodded then looked back to the dusty road ahead of them. Magnus turned his attention over his shoulder, watching the small town of Refuge approach. If everything goes well, then maybe his life will finally change for the better. 

Within a few moments, the cart came to a gentle stop in of a wooden platform, a sign reading “Refuge” hanging off a pole nearby. Magnus grabbed his few bags and exited the wagon, tossing the driver a few coins and a quick thankful farewell. They nodded gratefully and spurred the horse, slowly pulling out of sight. Magnus took a deep breath, the country air filling his lungs, quickly exhaling. There should be someone around there to meet him, He wondered. He began to look around and he noticed a dark skinned human woman begin to approach. She looked slightly out of breath. 

“Might you be…” She took a quick look at the paper in her hands, then to the human in front of her, eyes widening sightly, “Magnus Burnsides?” It sounded almost like a realization to her.

“That... I am.” He responded, shifting his bags quickly. 

“Ah that’s… good. That's good.” Her expression dimmed as she moved the paper into a pocket of her coat. “I am... Lucretia, but most people here simply refer to me as the Mayor.” She extended a hand, which Magnus graciously accepted, introducing himself as well. 

“Well then, introductions aside, allow me to show you to your place of residence.” 

She led him down a dirt road for a while until they reached a worn down house that would definitely need some fixing up. 

“Well, Here it is.” Lucretia guestured up to the house and the overgrown yard. “The entire property is yours, do with it what you see fit.” She began up the stairs of the house to the door, opening it to allow a look inside. “I provided basic furnishings, a bed, a table and two chairs and a rug, for starters. Anything else you will have to provide yourself.” She stepped to the side, as Magnus entered the home. 

“Wow this is…” He was honestly at a loss of words. When he purchased the property, he knew it was going to be a lot of work, but he was the greatest carpenter ever, how hard could this be? He didn’t expect to get an entire square of land to work with. It wasn’t like he had any family left to bring, nor friends he wanted to show around. 

“It’s perfect.” 

Lucretia smiled happily. “I’m glad.”

She quickly handed him a piece of paper from her pocket, explain it was a map of the surrounding areas. She pointed out some areas of interest, and suggested he go meet some of the townsfolk tomorrow. Magnus agreed with her on the front, considering how small the town was. With that, Lucretia left the human man to get some well deserved rest.

Tomorrow was the start of something new. 

Magnus awoke early that morning and left for town. The sun had just risen, and the sound of birds greeted him as he left the house. The brisk spring air chilled him to his core as he entered the small town. Magnus pulled his map out of his pocket, glancing at the locations Lucretia marked on his map. 

“Right then, General store.” 

Luckily, said general store was just at the entrance of the town, and just as lucky, the store was just now being unlocked. A smaller man with a name tag reading “Leon” leaned out of the door, reaching up to the closed sign and flipping it over so read open. He froze, noticing the larger man standing out front. 

“May… I help you?” He asked cautiously. He was already getting a bad feeling from this stranger in front of him. 

Magnus grinned nervously, but raised a hand in a friendly gesture. “Hail and well met my good man!” The human man began to fold the map and tuck it back into his bag. “I just moved in at the old, uh, old house just down the way.” Magnus began to explain, pointing down the dirt road he came from. He explained how he simply wanted to procure some tools to start repairs, as he couldn’t bring any with him when he left. The man whom Magnus assumed his name was Leon hummed in response. 

“Interesting story there. What’s your name?” He asked, opening the door wider and standing out of the way to let the bigger human through. 

Magnus introduced himself, entering the general store. Leon introduced himself formally in turn, taking his place behind the counter. 

“So Magnus. Why Refuge? Why such a backwater town in the middle of a valley like this?” Leon asked as Magnus browsed the shelves. 

Magnus picked up an axe and weighed it, feeling how it felt in his hands. “Oh you know, Fresh starts and all that.” 

“Something happen?” 

Magnus slowed a little. “Uh, yeah.” He thought for a moment, what should he say? He frowned, leaving the air heavy. 

Leon coughed and frowned slightly. “I’m.. sorry, I didn’t mean to pull up any unsavory memories.” 

Magnus laughed, his jovial attitude returning. He waved it off, quickly grabbing whatever tools he could find. Leon rang it up, and Magnus gave him the amount he owed, frowning at the meager amount he had left after. He thanked Leon and turned to leave, but as he did, Leon stopped him. 

“Oh, word to the wise? Stay away from those guys, uh, Fantasy Costco or whatever it’s called.” 

“Why? Business competitors?” 

“You could say that. They’ve been trying to run us smaller businesses into the ground for a while now. I’ve been looking to compete with them but…” Leon sighed. “They just got everything y’know? Produce, medicine, furniture, tools, everything. I can’t compete with them. I’m just a small general store…” The smaller man fell silent, clearly defeated by this. 

Magnus frowned and crossed his arms, thinking. As much as thinking isn’t his strong suit, in his opinion, he came up with a pretty good idea. 

“What if.. I help you?” 

Leon looked up to the stronger man, clearly curious by this offer. 

“I’m a carpenter by trade, but until I build up my clientele I’m not going to have a fun time paying the bills and such. What if… I start like, a farm or something and you can sell the produce here? I’ve certainly got the room for it, ain't gonna use it for much else. At the very least you can compete on that front, we can both somewhat profit from it, and what’s a better sales pitch than locally grown food?” 

Leon jumped up, racing around the counter. “You’d do that for me? We literally just met five minutes ago! You moved into town just like what? Yesterday?!” 

Magnus smiled. “I mean yeah, Why not? Got nothing better to do with my time, other than well, carve wooden ducks and such.” 

Leon in that moment honestly looked like he was about to cry. “I-I appreciate it greatly but….” His expression of joy faded just as quick as it came. “Do you… have any experience in farming?” 

Magnus clapped his hands together, exhaling through his teeth. “Well, no… Not exactly… but how hard can it be?” 

Leon’s expression dropped as he sighed. “Well… it’s better than nothing. Luckily, we have somewhat of an…” 

Leon’s expression twisted into one of slightly concern and insureness.

“Expert... of plants in our town. He can give you the basics, bless your ground and such.”

“I’m sorry, bless my what now?” 

Leon looked to the side.

“He’s a priest, you see. His god is Pan, you know? The god of plants and nature? Yeah, moved to the town to give bountiful harvest to our farms. We really only had the one, and they don’t do crops. They deal more on the animal side of things.” 

Leon shook his head slightly.

“Anyways, He was disappointed, but never moved out of town. He didn't explain why.”

Leon pointed to a narrow passage into a different building.

“He actually set up an altar in the abandoned building that was built beside this one. I was using it as storage but he made me a pretty good offer.” 

Magnus shifted his bag slightly, feeling the weight of the tools move. “Great! Is he here now?” 

“I’m not sure, honestly. I’ve got to watch the counter, my regulars should be coming in any moment now, But you can go back around and check. His name is Merle Highchurch, Name should be written on his room if he isn’t by the altar.” Leon responded, Moving more towards the counter. 

Magnus nodded, thanking the shopkeeper. The man moved through the narrow passage into a larger room, to which a light caught his attention from another room in front of him. He heard humming coming from said room, piquing his curiosity. Cautiously, he approached the room, peeking around the corner. He saw a stout dwarf fluffing a fern around a very heavily plant populated altar. The dwarf stopped, stepped back, and nodded, satisfied with his work. 

“Merle Highchurch?” Magnus spoke up, causing the dwarf to panic slightly, falling back into one of the few chairs around the altar. 

“Pan damn it, Don’t do that to me!” Merle snapped, turning to face Magnus.

Merle released a breath, looking up to Magnus. 

“What can I do for you?” 

“Well, I heard you can help me with some plant help?” 

This caught Merle’s interest. He climbed up on a chair, wrapping an arm around Magnus’ shoulder.

“You should have said so from the beginning! Have you heard the word of… Pan?” He paused for dramatic effect. 

Magnus was slowly beginning to regret this.

“No I haven’t but I’m in a bit of a rush, sorry.” 

He moved out from under Merle’s arm. 

“I’m just trying to start a farm, earn a profit you know? I don’t exactly have the most experience, so I thought you could help me at least know how to not… y’know, kill plants.” 

Merle crossed his arms, closing his eyes as he thought of what to do.

“Mmmmalright. Fine. Got nothing better to do anyways.” He grumbled, climbing down off the chair. 

He pointed up to Magnus. “It’s gonna cost you though.”

“A priest asking for payment?” Magnus muttered to himself.

“Is that what Leon told you I was? A damned priest? No sir, I am a Cleric. There is a big difference!”

Magnus clearly underestimated how well this dwarf’s hearing was. Merle grumbled on about this for a while, until they reached the front counter. A new person was there, chatting with Leon. Another man, human, from what Magnus could tell.

Leon stopped talking to the man, pointing to Magnus. “This is the guy I'm talking about.” 

Leon pointed to the new man in the room. “Magnus, This is Avi, He works at the tavern down the road, but also does deliveries in the morning. We were just talking about you guys.” 

Avi waved, Smiling a little. “S’up?”

The four chatted for a bit, eventually said their goodbyes and began their way back to the farm. The town was beginning to get busy, people walking out of their houses to go to work, a few children running around playing. It warmed Magnus’ heart. Along the way, Magnus formally introduced himself finally to Merle, as well as striking up idle chitchat, learning more about the town and other useful info. Merle didn't really have anything new to say, Magnus already heard most of it from Lucretia. Merle showed Magnus the basics of farming, and surprisingly, how to do it respectfully in the face of Pan. But, it was obvious this old dwarf had something Magnus didn't. He saw things that the stronger human clearly didn't, something in the land that he had trouble reading. 

When they finished they sat on the old porch talking. Magnus learned that Merle was surprisingly enjoyable to talk to, he had a lot of stories of life on the beach and just adventuring while spreading the word of Pan. 

“Why did you leave in the first place? The beach I mean.” Magnus asked, inspecting the carving he had been whittling while they talk. 

Merle sighed. “I-I don't know. My wife and I just divorced and I was feeling…” Merle fell silent. He turned to Magnus. 

“Why-why'd you decide to come here? A little in the middle of nowhere don't you think?” 

Magnus stopped carving. “I needed a fresh start, after… A lot of stuff happened.” 

Merle hummed. “Yeah, that's what I thought. Alotta people come out here for that reason.” 

Magnus raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Yeah, take Taako for example. Him and his sister moved out to that old tower after whatever happened. He doesn't come out much.” Merle began to muse. 

“Taako?” 

“Yeah, you've probably not met him. He's a wizard that lives in a tower just outside town. His sister, Lup, lives with him and does most of the talking for him, honestly.” 

Merle pointed forward to a small path barely visible through the overgrown yard. 

“That way will take you right to his tower, if you ever have a need for it. He won't see you though. Doesn't let anyone in besides Lup and her husband.” 

Magnus frowned. “Sounds lonely.” 

“It's his life. He's a stubborn elf that's for sure.” Merle shrugged. 

With that statement, The old dwarf got up and stretched, looking to the barely setting sun. 

“Oh geez, it's that late already?” 

He turned back to Magnus. “I'd better get goin'. These roads are a bitch to travel when it gets dark.”

“Oh wait! Take this.” Magnus handed him the wooden figure he was carving, a small wooden dwarf that had a similar appearance to Merle. 

Merle looked at it and laughed, not a mocking laugh but a more amused laugh. 

“If this isn't payment enough-” 

“Magnus, Mag, buddy, you've done enough.” Merle smiled before turning away and waving behind him, leaving Magnus to his thoughts. But suddenly, Merle stopped and turned. 

“Tomorrow, before the sun begins to set, want to meet me in the tavern? Have a few drinks?”

Magnus' eyes widened in surprise. 

“Yeah, Sure! That sounds great.”


	2. Magnus Makes Some Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus follows up with Merle's offer, and makes some new friends in this new town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took entirely too long to type up. I had a severe writer's block for this chapter, so I'm probably going to go rewrite it once I can get break this block. 
> 
> If anyone has any questions or comments I have a Tumblr for this AU at @Taz_Stardew_Au
> 
> Please let me know if I missed any grammatical or spelling errors and thank you for reading!
> 
> Edit: Fixed an error in the timeline. Hopefully, no more paradoxes exist.

Magnus arrived at the tavern a little later than expected to find a slightly impatient Merle waiting outside. He tapped his foot in impatience, an unamused expression on his face.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late." Magnus apologized, rubbing a hand behind his head.

Merle's expression lit up as he dismissed the apology. "Aw, it's fine, come on I've got some people I want you to meet."

The two entered the tavern, a loud wave of jovial laughter and music hitting them as they enter. The waitress shouts a greeting over the noise to the two. Merle led Magnus to a table near the back where two other people sat beside each other, a female elf and a male human. The two looked at Magnus rather surprised.

"Merle, he's a lot taller than you described him." The man said, adjusting his glasses. “I mean, I know you’re a dwarf and a-”  
Merle shot the man a glare.

"Thanks? I guess?" Magnus looked to the man in glasses. Man, he looked familiar, like some sort of celebrity?

"Magnus, This is Barry and Lup."

The man, Magnus assumed this was Barry, waved and the female elf, whom Magnus again assumed was Lup, gave a friendly greeting. Magnus returned the greetings with his own as the waitress, a friendly yet stern drow, brought over two mugs of something the human couldn’t recognize. He caught a glance at the nametag the drow wore, Ren, it read.

“I’ll be back soon with those appetizers.” She said over the noise, hurrying off back towards the kitchen.

Merle and Magnus took the seats in front of Lup and Barry, glancing around.

“It’s certainly lively in here.” Magnus commented.

“Yeah, It gets like that here. Nothing else to do out here in the middle of nowhere.” Lup took a swig from the mug.

“So no Taako again?” Merle frowned.

A silence fell over the group. Barry raised the mug up to his lips and took a long sip from it.

“You know how he is, Merle, Don’t take it personally.” Lup tried to explain. Merle’s frown remained.

“I know, I know, He’s Taako, Dedicated to his craft yada yada yada.” The dwarf crossed his arms. “I just wish he’d get out of that stuffy tower and come party with us, Maybe make some food again. It ain’t like he poisons whatever he touches.”

Barry muttered from behind the mug, “He sure convinced himself he does.”

Magnus spoke up, “Wait, You're the Lup Merle mentioned yesterday? So... Your Brother? Taako? What exactly does he do?”

“The one and only.” Lup humorously answered, taking a quick sip of whatever was still in the mug. “And my twin’s a chef but also an alchemist, Used to make food for almost every town gathering when the town was new. He had a show on the road for a while, Sizzling it up with Taako, you know about it?”

“Vaguely? I’ve heard people talk about it.”

“Well, He just came home one day very quiet and acting very fidgety and just generally too... Taako-like. These two,” Merle pointed to Barry and Lup, “Won’t say a thing about it though.”

“Look, It’s not our story to tell, If Taako doesn’t want to tell anyone, then I’ll respect that.” Lup argued.

Merle opened his mouth to say something, but Barry held up a hand.

“Lup, Merle, Don’t argue, We aren’t here to talk about Taako, I wish he would come out with us too, but we’re here to celebrate Magnus’ move in.” Barry pointed out, noticing Ren come closer with a large plate.

The two let out a small “Hmph!” and settled down as Ren placed the plate down in front of the group. The plate contained a wide assortment of delicious looking appetizers, Magnus couldn’t believe these two could eat all this. Lup looked to Ren. “Oh yeah, Can you bring us two more of the Drink of The Day?”

Ren nodded, scribbled something down onto a notebook she pulled from her apron. “Anything else?”

The group shook their heads and Ren ran off back into the kitchen, shortly later bringing out two mugs of the same unknown liquid that Lup and Barry had, along with a few extra plates.

“So anyways, Dig in Magnus. We didn’t know what you’d like so we just got a whole bunch of stuff.” Barry gestured to the plate, then leaned forward a bit. “The wings are to die for here.” He pointed to some golden brown lumps covered in a glistening brown sauce.

Magnus picked one up and shrugged, What could happen? He soon regretted popping it into his mouth. He choked slightly as his mouth almost instantaneously burned. Lup held back snickers as Magnus coughed loudly, not expecting it to be that spicy so quickly. No sooner as the heat died down an amazing blend of flavor mixed in his mouth.

"Holy shit." He breathed, moving a hand to his mouth.

"What did I tell you?" Barry said before popping one into his mouth. He coughed a little as well and took a drink from his mug.

“I propose a toast, to a wonderful new friendship with Magnus.” Lup said as she held her own mug up.

The others followed with their own mugs, Merle begrudgingly held his own up. They all toasted and laughed the night away.

They all said good-bye a few hours later, and Magnus headed home. He sighed in contentment, walking down the cobbled path. The streets were eerily quiet, minus the few crickets singing their song. He hummed along to the cricket's tune with his own, idly wandering the path he hoped would take him back home.

He found himself soon lost in the dense forest, unable to tell left from right.

“I was sure this was the right way…” He muttered, continuing down the vague path carved in front of him.

Magnus stopped in his tracks. The faint noise of pages turning became clear, and someone humming a song. Well, it was his only way of getting out, Magnus thought, Might as well follow it. He pushed onward, quietly, and found a tall figure picking herbs. But this figure looked familiar, from what Magnus could see of the face. 

It was… Lup?

“What is she doing out here? I just saw her…” Magnus muttered.

The figure stood up quickly and looked around. “Alright who’s there?!”

Magnus quickly fell silent, his body tensing up. That definitely wasn’t Lup’s voice. The figure cursed under its breath and ran off further into the woods.

“Ah! Shoot, Wait!” Magnus shouted.

The figure ran faster, and Magnus gave chase. He didn’t know how long he chased this person, but the next thing he knew he was out at the opening Merle pointed out.

“What…?” Magnus muttered, glancing around him. He frowned, a worried expression crossing his face.

There’s something more going on here… But for now, Magnus decides it would be good to get some rest. Still, that figure never left his mind.

Wait, Didn’t Lup have a twin?


End file.
